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Mechanism of quiescent nanoplastic formation from semicrystalline polymers
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Researchers uncovered the mechanism by which semicrystalline polymers, which make up about 70% of commercial plastics, spontaneously release nanoplastic particles even without mechanical force. They found that chemical bond-breaking events concentrate in the non-crystalline regions of the plastic, eventually causing those layers to fail and release stacks of crystalline fragments as nanoplastics. This discovery helps explain why plastics continuously shed tiny particles into the environment under normal conditions.
Polymers are known to spontaneously produce microplastics (sizes 1 μm - 3 mm) and nanoplastics (10 nm - 1 μm). Still, the mechanisms by which environmentally-triggered Å-level random bond breaking events lead to the formation of these relatively large fragments are unclear. Significantly, 70% of commercial polymers are semicrystalline, with a morphology comprised of alternating crystalline and amorphous layers, each tens of nanometers thick. It is well-accepted that chain scission events accumulate in the amorphous phase. We show that this leads to mechanical failure and the concurrent release of particulate nanoplastics comprised of polydisperse stacks of lamellae even under quiescent conditions. Noncrystalline analogs, which do not have a well-defined microstructure, do not form nanoplastics. While the amorphous phase of the semicrystalline nanoplastics continues to degrade, crystal fragments do not, and hence, they temporally persist in the environment. These results stress the critical role of polymer microstructure and fracture mechanics on particulate nanoplastic creation.
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Researchers investigated the mechanism by which semicrystalline polymers spontaneously generate nanoplastics, finding that chain scission events accumulate in the amorphous phase between crystalline layers and lead to mechanical failure of the semicrystalline morphology, explaining how nanometer-scale bond-breaking events produce the relatively large micro- and nanoplastic fragments observed in the environment.
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